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Argentine native Horacio Pagani’s supercars are amongst the world’s most exclusive, with only around 10 leaving the gates of his Modena factory each year.
Exquisitely crafted from the most exotic materials available - carbon fibre, airframe grade aluminium, titanium and magnesium – these Zondas are extraordinary machines, doing their supercar billing every ounce of justice.
They’re not particularly easy to drive though, with dynamics best explored within the confines of racing circuit.
The rear-wheel drive layout and massive power band courtesy of the AMG fettled naturally-aspirated V12 can easily catch out the unwary of overly adventurous, which is exactly what happened last September on a test drive just outside Aberdeen in Scotland.
An error of judgement on this little test run has now ushered in a rather extraordinary insurance claim tallying up to a neat £300 000. The (unsurprisingly) anonymous test driver spun the Zonda on a narrow back road before colliding with a telegraph pole and smashing through a fence.
Sound like some judicious power-on oversteer hooliganism to us…
Big oops
However the accident came about damage was extensive, yet the driver’s insurer - Avivia - optioned to ship the car back to Pagani’s Modena factory to have repairs done, instead of writing the £528 000 supercar off completely.
An Avivia spokesperson admitted the Zonda repair is a rather hefty calculation on the company’s balance sheet. "This is the biggest insurance pay-out we have had for repairs to a private car in the UK. This is out of the ordinary for an insurer.”
The crashed Zonda is expected to be fully repaired by May this year, which is just as well considering Pagani’s wound down production of its first generation supercar. Most of the factory’s capacity is now being geared up for the new C9 (seen recently undergoing high-speed testing in South Africa), which is expected to debut this year.
So, if you thought you were having a bad day – imagine how the Avivia broker felt when he got that call last September…
Exquisitely crafted from the most exotic materials available - carbon fibre, airframe grade aluminium, titanium and magnesium – these Zondas are extraordinary machines, doing their supercar billing every ounce of justice.
They’re not particularly easy to drive though, with dynamics best explored within the confines of racing circuit.
The rear-wheel drive layout and massive power band courtesy of the AMG fettled naturally-aspirated V12 can easily catch out the unwary of overly adventurous, which is exactly what happened last September on a test drive just outside Aberdeen in Scotland.
An error of judgement on this little test run has now ushered in a rather extraordinary insurance claim tallying up to a neat £300 000. The (unsurprisingly) anonymous test driver spun the Zonda on a narrow back road before colliding with a telegraph pole and smashing through a fence.
Sound like some judicious power-on oversteer hooliganism to us…
Big oops
However the accident came about damage was extensive, yet the driver’s insurer - Avivia - optioned to ship the car back to Pagani’s Modena factory to have repairs done, instead of writing the £528 000 supercar off completely.
An Avivia spokesperson admitted the Zonda repair is a rather hefty calculation on the company’s balance sheet. "This is the biggest insurance pay-out we have had for repairs to a private car in the UK. This is out of the ordinary for an insurer.”
The crashed Zonda is expected to be fully repaired by May this year, which is just as well considering Pagani’s wound down production of its first generation supercar. Most of the factory’s capacity is now being geared up for the new C9 (seen recently undergoing high-speed testing in South Africa), which is expected to debut this year.
So, if you thought you were having a bad day – imagine how the Avivia broker felt when he got that call last September…
